If it hadn’t been through enough already this season, Oklahoma’s offensive
line was tested early in Saturday’s game against Texas at the Cotton Bowl.

Down three starters who had been lost with season-ending injuries, the
Sooners watched as junior Bronson Irwin took an unfortunate hit and hobbled to
the sidelines with a sore ankle.

But instead of disintegrating, the line toughened up and played one of its
best games of the year, paving the way for 343 rushing yards and 677 yards of
total offense in a 63-21 win.

“They did a great job,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “We’re thin there,
and they managed to battle through the whole game in a very positive way. They
were awesome.”

The Sooners lost Nila Kasitati for the season to a torn ACL he suffered in
last week’s Texas Tech game. Backup guard Austin Woods,
who is still recovering from the effects of chemotherapy that he was
taking to battle Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was also unavailable.

Therefore, Irwin’s injury forced right tackle Darryl
Williams to slide to guard and left tackle Lane Johnson to move to right tackle,
allowing Tyrus Thompson to step up from his backup spot at
left tackle.

“It was amazing, but for me, it was just ‘next guy up,’ ” said Sooners
quarterback Landry Jones. “I mean Bronson goes down with the ankle, you move
Darryl down to guard, Lane plays right tackle, ‘next guy up.’ It’s a testament
to those guys on how hard they practice, and just really their mental approach
to practice and what they’re trying to accomplish there.”

In most scouting reports, the Sooners’ offensive line was seen to be at a
sharp disadvantage in this game. Texas touts two NFL-caliber defensive ends in
Jackson Jeffcoat and Alex Okafor.

“Those two defensive ends are as good as you will see, not only in this
conference, but in the country, and you don’t want to let them dictate the
entire game,” Oklahoma offensive coordinator Josh Heupel said. “That D line is
as good as you’ll see, so I thought overall we handled it in a good way.”

Center Gabe Ikard said there were some nervous moments, but said the fact
Irwin returned later in the game after having his ankle taped help calm things
down.

“I saw Bronny take a helmet to his leg, and I thought he had broken his
ankle,” Ikard said. “But he’s War Daddy, and he fought through it and played
really well. It was a little discombobulated throughout, but guys executed
really well and we came through.”

Okafor said the Longhorns’ inability to stop the Oklahoma running attack was
the key to the game.

“We couldn’t stop the run, and when you can’t stop the run, things get ugly
really quickly,” Okafor said.

So what was the key to establishing the run? Ikard said working against a
really good Oklahoma defensive front in practice helped a great deal and said
the Sooners had a very simple plan.

“The front four is the biggest concern on their defense, there’s all sorts of
pro talent there, so we had our emphasis in practice that we needed to take care
of those four guys and let the other seven make plays,” Ikard said.

“We simplified things and saw a few things on film that other teams had done
against Texas, and I just think we executed. We only ran a handful of plays, but
I thought we executed them very well.

“And you know what, I have to give a lot of credit to our defensive line,” he
added. “We go against them every day in practice, and there couldn’t be a better
way to prepare. I think you saw that today, because I thought they dominated the
game.”

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